For those who are not privy to my family blog site....here is a blog about our adventure with the great ice storm of 2009.
On Monday, Jan 26, we experienced the beginning of one of the worst ice storms in this area in history. By Tuesday, we had lost power. We felt mildly prepared as we had candles, wind-up flashlights and lanterns with extra oil. We had filled up the bathtubs to flush the toilets and use to wash dishes and such. We have a generator but found that it didn't work. Seems it had been filled with the wrong gas and a part had been burned up. By Monday, 2 Feb, we had the part and were able to run the fridge. We lost a portion of our food even with packing it in the ice that was plentiful outside. We cooked on our gas grill and had food to eat and and warm house to live in.
We played a lot of card games and board games. We read a lot of books and went to bed early. The kids have been really good about not complaining about our situation. They play well together and help each other out. They had a great time with the wind-up flashlights. I loved them because I didn't need to worry about batteries running down.
I am thankful for the opportunity to experience this trial. It was a real wake-up call. I have a list made of things I want to keep on hand that will make us more comfortable next time. I will be ready for the next time. I know following the prophets counsel to be prepared will keep you from feeling the fear of not being able to take care of your family. I know a lot of people who felt that, we did not.
Last night, Chad started up the generator, so we could have light for dinner. Eating by lantern isn't the most enjoyable, but it can be done......we did it for 6 days! After dinner, he went to flip the breakers off, and turn on the well pump so we would have water, and noticed it was awfully light in the laundry room. Surely the moon isn't that bright already! Our outside light was on. He ran upstairs saying, "I think we have power!" We switched off the generator and flipped the main breaker, and........then there was light!
I was so excited. I was expecting at least another couple of weeks without. They had said anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks for some. I'm just glad it isn't us. We are continuing to pray for those who don't have power yet. It isn't fun.
I will post some pictures from our adventure in the next post.